5 things I wish I knew before: posting on social media

Career, Job Searching, Social Media|March 20, 2017

5 things I wish I knew before: Posting on social media while job hunting

There is no need to tell you how crucial your social media image is in your job search process. If your CV and cover letter made it through the initial scan, there is no doubt that employers will go through your social media to connect the dots and get a comprehensive view of who you are. And when that happens, you don’t want an embarrassing or extreme post to ruin your shots of being invited for an interview, right? Read our five tips below to make sure that nothing goes wrong:

Ego-Surf

First things first! Go ahead and Google your name and see what comes up. Now carefully go through the first three pages of results to check if there is anything inappropriate or embarrassing. After removing this content, take another look to see if the very first results are consistent with how you want to be perceived by a recruiter.
Clean up your social media dirt

Go through your social media profiles and look closely for anything that could harm your image. Don’t just remove the drunken photos, but also check for typos or mistakes in your statuses, expressions of extreme views on political or social issues, disrespectful or aggressive posts by you or your friends etc.
Work on your digital brand

Social media can work both as a blessing and a curse. The good news is that, to a greater extent, you are in charge of what it should be. Use social media to your advantage by creating your digital personal brand –a neat, professional and interesting online image that will impress hiring managers and make them want to know more about the offline you.
See who can see what

Being concerned about your social media privacy and having your accounts private is of course understandable. However, during your job search consider having some of your information open to the public (some pictures, field-related content you have posted, likes etc.) in order to give to recruiters a glimpse of who you are and show that you have nothing to hide. Use the ‘View as’ option to check what people who are not connected with you can see and adjust the contents’ privacy accordingly.
Next time you post…

Before hitting that post button, make sure to edit the privacy settings accordingly. If you set your post to ‘public’, think whether it is something you would like having associated with your name and make sure to check for any grammar mistakes and typos – as with your cover letter and CV, language mistakes on social media could jeopardize your chances.